Teacher Quality Standard Four
Teachers demonstrate professionalism through ethical conduct, reflection, and leadership.
Element A
Teachers demonstrate high standards for professional conduct.
Statement from Mrs. Lanter
I asked one of my mentor teachers to write a short statement speaking to my professionalism and received this lovely note. I figured instead of erring on the side of “bragging” if I tried to speak to my conduct, I would have someone who’s seen me day in and day out since I started the semester in January help me out. Though I’ve definitely fallen short before, for the most part I have tried to be consistent with the way I show up and that I am showing up. I feel very flattered by this written reflection about my performance and glad that I was able to be a positive presence at Berthoud High School this semester.
Element B
Teachers link professional growth to their professional goals.
Agenda from Career Development Seminar
Included is the agenda for an Education Career Development Seminar I attended in February. Though I have since decided that being a K-12 teacher is not my ideal career path, I did gain valuable insights to the teaching profession through this seminar and was able to provide my own perspectives and inputs in breakout rooms with other teacher candidates and faculty from various local school districts. I was pulling in my own professional growth and goals to communicate and share with others to hopefully bolster my understanding of myself and the role of a teacher.
Element C
Teachers respond to a complex, dynamic environment.
9th Grade Lesson Plan
This is a lesson plan from one of my 9th grade Honors English classes that exhibits me running around the room wildly. Since we began our Romeo and Juliet group projects, we have Independent Work Time at the end of all our classes. In Independent Work Time, students who are approaching their project presentation group together to work on their assignment. Every other student has two tasks: to complete a close-reading of a passage from the act that the group project students are preparing to present on, and a vocab quiz of words from that same act. Independent Work Time often has me running around the room as I meet with students individually to look over their close-readings and offer feedback, administer the vocabulary quizzes, or to assist the group as they get ready to finalize their projects. I handle it fairly well, and it offers me opportunities to meet each student where they’re at.
Element D
Teachers demonstrate leadership in the school, the community, and the teaching profession.
High School Poetry Contest
Annually, there’s a poetry contest for high school students (and middle school! Though I don’t teach any middle schoolers) across the Loveland area with cash prizes and the award of being published in a teen poetry anthology. I have been sharing the contest with all of my classes and have had several students reach out to me to offer feedback on their submissions. My 10th grade students have submitted entries from their creative writing projects, my 9th graders ask me to look over their work or give them ideas, and I even have a few upperclassmen that have reached out for help. As a creative writing major at CSU, I have been able to be a leader in promoting this contest and engaging students to take their chances in submitting original poetry.
Teacher Quality Standard Four
Reflection
For the final teacher quality standard concerning my professionalism, I would consider myself to be proficient. Manuevering through school in the role of a teacher after an entire life of being a student has proved an interesting transition, and one that I often falter at. I have to remind myself, especially at lunchtime when the gaggle of freshman girls surround my desk, that I am a teacher and I can’t be the friend that many students attempt to have me be. While this doesn’t prohibit me from fostering healthy and appropriate relationships with my students, there is this constant sticky note inside my skull that screams to be aware of what I’m saying/doing and is scared of forgetting my place. I do think through routine, practice, and repetition I have grown in this area and become more accustomed to what is expected of me as a trusted adult in the room. I also recognize that I have so much more to learn. A highlight for this standard would be helping out students with the annual poetry contest, as I love to see young creative writers! I didn’t have any mentors when I was a beginner writer and I hope that these students will see my humble patronage as a sign that they’re doing something right. My students have impacted me as they constantly test me to see if I’ll slip up, and I have impacted them in becoming more and more successful at dodging their attempts at having me stoop to their level. As it concerns my professional goals, something one of my mentor teachers asked me at the very beginning of the semester was “have you figured out your teaching personality yet?” Mrs. Lanter explained to me that there is the self, and then there is the self that is adopted in front of a room of students. The teacher personality is what our students need us to be, so on days when I’ve been utterly exhausted I’ve adopted an energetic facade as soon as our class time begins. The day I got rejected from my dream grad school, I faced students with a smile and pushed my own devastation to the back of my mind. Though my teacher personality, as it’s grown and developed throughout this semester, is soon to be retired for the foreseeable future, I do think the concept of the “work mask” is one that I will take with me in whatever career path I find myself pursuing. I’ll be what the job requires of me, and preserve my true self for when I’m outside of the bounds of whatever employment I secure.